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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.
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In this paper, we descrive our motivation and approach to devloping models and the neural network architecture. Initial use of the artificial neural network for modeling the single plant process of transpiration is presented.
We present a new graph neural network, the Attention-based Parametric-Kernel augmented Graph Neural Network (APKGNN), developed for node classification tasks. Despite extensive work on modeling multi-faceted relationships between connected nodes of a graph, the effect of attention on edge features mapped to relationships has not yet been analyzed through learning representation. This study derives such an attention vector by first calculating node features corresponding to endpoints of an edge and then aggregating these with extracted local intrinsic patches of a given graph to generate augmented local patch vectors. This process uses a parametric kernel based on Gaussian mixture models (GMMs) to embed local neighborhoods of the graph in local patches. The patch vectors then convolve with the above node features to produce an updated node representation. We show that this new learning representation (APKGNN) achieves higher node classification accuracy on tasks - both standard benchmarks (Cora, PubMed, Citeseer) and new experimental short text corpora where nodes correspond to text documents and words. This implementation of the GNN convolution layer outperforms state-of-the-art (SOTA) algorithms, achieving higher training, validation, and test accuracy by a significant margin on three standard benchmark data sets under both SOTA experimental settings and those for new testbeds.
Wildfires are destructive to both life and property, which necessitates an approach to quickly and autonomously detect these events from orbital observatories. This talk will introduce a neural network based approach for classifying wildfires in MODIS multispectral data, and will show how it could be applied to a constellation of low-cost CubeSats. The approach combines training a deep neural network on the ground using high performance consumer GPUs, with a highly optimized inference system running on a flight-proven embedded processor. Normally neural networks execute on hardware orders of magnitude more powerful than anything found in a space-based computer, therefore the inference system is designed to be performance even on the most modest of platforms. This implementation is able to be significantly more accurate than previous neural network implementations, while also approaching the accuracy of the state-of-the-art MODFIRE data products.
Genetic and evolutionary algorithms have been applied to solve numerous problems in engineering design where they have been used primarily as optimization procedures. These methods have an advantage over conventional gradient-based search procedures became they are capable of finding global optima of multi-modal functions and searching design spaces with disjoint feasible regions. They are also robust in the presence of noisy data. Another desirable feature of these methods is that they can efficiently use distributed and parallel computing resources since multiple function evaluations (flow simulations in aerodynamics design) can be performed simultaneously and independently on ultiple processors. For these reasons genetic and evolutionary algorithms are being used more frequently in design optimization. Examples include airfoil and wing design and compressor and turbine airfoil design. They are also finding increasing use in multiple-objective and multidisciplinary optimization. This lecture will focus on an evolutionary method that is a relatively new member to the general class of evolutionary methods called differential evolution (DE). This method is easy to use and program and it requires relatively few user-specified constants. These constants are easily determined for a wide class of problems. Fine-tuning the constants will off course yield the solution to the optimization problem at hand more rapidly. DE can be efficiently implemented on parallel computers and can be used for continuous, discrete and mixed discrete/continuous optimization problems. It does not require the objective function to be continuous and is noise tolerant. DE and applications to single and multiple-objective optimization will be included in the presentation and lecture notes. A method for aerodynamic design optimization that is based on neural networks will also be included as a part of this lecture. The method offers advantages over traditional optimization methods. It is more flexible than other methods in dealing with design in the context of both steady and unsteady flows, partial and complete data sets, combined experimental and numerical data, inclusion of various constraints and rules of thumb, and other issues that characterize the aerodynamic design process. Neural networks provide a natural framework within which a succession of numerical solutions of increasing fidelity, incorporating more realistic flow physics, can be represented and utilized for optimization. Neural networks also offer an excellent framework for multiple-objective and multi-disciplinary design optimization. Simulation tools from various disciplines can be integrated within this framework and rapid trade-off studies involving one or many disciplines can be performed. The prospect of combining neural network based optimization methods and evolutionary algorithms to obtain a hybrid method with the best properties of both methods will be included in this presentation. Achieving solution diversity and accurate convergence to the exact Pareto front in multiple objective optimization usually requires a significant computational effort with evolutionary algorithms. In this lecture we will also explore the possibility of using neural networks to obtain estimates of the Pareto optimal front using non-dominated solutions generated by DE as training data. Neural network estimators have the potential advantage of reducing the number of function evaluations required to obtain solution accuracy and diversity, thus reducing cost to design.
Computer simulations require the use of meshes to simulate geometries. These meshes capture important geometric features of the design and can be used in machine learning modeling. This report explores the use of graph neural networks (GNNs) to learn features from two-dimensional (2D) airfoil designs represented as a set of nodes connected using edges. This type of network is common in aerospace applications: most geometries are represented as a mesh in order to perform analysis. The objective of this work is to use GNNs to predict the performance of 2D airfoils generated using the program XFOIL. The predicted performance parameters include bulk quantities such as coefficients of lift (C L ), drag (C d , C dp ), moment (C m ), and node-specific quantities such as coefficient of pressure (C p ). In this report, a spline convolutional graph-based neural network is compared with deep learning neural networks to predict both bulk and node-specific quantities. The findings indicate the GNNs are able to predict bulk quantities quite well; however, when the number of outputs is increased, the deep neural network (DNN) proves to be better in its prediction capability. Two different normalization strategies were compared in the training of both GNNs and DNNs: minmax and standard deviation. In both types of networks, standard deviation scaling proved to be the best.
In-memory computing based on non-volatile resistive memory can significantly improve the energy efficiency of artificial neural networks. However, accurate in situ training has been challenging due to the nonlinear and stochastic switching of the resistive memory elements. One promising analog memory is the electrochemical random-access memory (ECRAM), also known as the redox transistor. Its low write currents and linear switching properties across hundreds of analog states enable accurate and massively parallel updates of a full crossbar array, which yield rapid and energy-efficient training. While simulations predict that ECRAM based neural networks achieve high training accuracy at significantly higher energy efficiency than digital implementations, these predictions have not been experimentally achieved. In this work, we train a 3 × 3 array of ECRAM devices that learns to discriminate several elementary logic gates (AND, OR, NAND). We record the evolution of the network’s synaptic weights during parallel in situ (on-line) training, with outer product updates. Due to linear and reproducible device switching characteristics, our crossbar simulations not only accurately simulate the epochs to convergence, but also quantitatively capture the evolution of weights in individual devices. The implementation of the first in situ parallel training together with strong agreement with simulation results provides a significant advance toward developing ECRAM into larger crossbar arrays for artificial neural network accelerators, which could enable orders of magnitude improvements in energy efficiency of deep neural networks.
As part of the NASA Aviation Safety Program, a unique model-based diagnostics method that employs neural networks and genetic algorithms for aircraft engine performance diagnostics has been developed and demonstrated at the NASA Glenn Research Center against a nonlinear gas turbine engine model. Neural networks are applied to estimate the internal health condition of the engine, and genetic algorithms are used for sensor fault detection, isolation, and quantification. This hybrid architecture combines the excellent nonlinear estimation capabilities of neural networks with the capability to rank the likelihood of various faults given a specific sensor suite signature. The method requires a significantly smaller data training set than a neural network approach alone does, and it performs the combined engine health monitoring objectives of performance diagnostics and sensor fault detection and isolation in the presence of nominal and degraded engine health conditions.
For multilayer materials in thin substrate systems, interfacial failure is one of the most challenges. The traction-separation relations (TSR) quantitatively describe the mechanical behavior of a material interface undergoing openings, which is critical to understand and predict interfacial failures under complex loadings. However, existing theoretical models have limitations on enough complexity and flexibility to well learn the real-world TSR from experimental observations. A neural network can fit well along with the loading paths but often fails to obey the laws of physics, due to a lack of experimental data and understanding of the hidden physical mechanism. In this paper, we propose a thermodynamic consistent neural network (TCNN) approach to build a data-driven model of the TSR with sparse experimental data. The TCNN leverages recent advances in physics-informed neural networks (PINN) that encode prior physical information into the loss function and efficiently train the neural networks using automatic differentiation. We investigate three thermodynamic consistent principles, i.e., positive energy dissipation, steepest energy dissipation gradient, and energy conservative loading path. All of them are mathematically formulated and embedded into a neural network model with a novel defined loss function. A real-world experiment demonstrates the superior performance of TCNN, and we find that TCNN provides an accurate prediction of the whole TSR surface and significantly reduces the violated prediction against the laws of physics.
We introduce a Bayesian protocol based on artificial neural networks that is suitable for modeling inclusive electron-nucleus scattering on a variety of nuclear targets with quantified uncertainties. Unlike previous applications in the field, which directly parameterize the cross sections, our approach employs artificial neural networks to represent the longitudinal and transverse response functions. In contrast to cross sections, which depend on the incoming energy, scattering angle, and energy transfer, the response functions are determined solely by the energy and momentum transfer to the system, allowing the angular component to be treated analytically. We assess the accuracy and predictive power of our framework against the extensive data in the quasielastic inclusive electron-scattering database. Additionally, we present novel extractions of the longitudinal and transverse response functions and compare them with previous experimental analysis and nuclear ab-initio calculations.
Machine learning approaches have recently been applied to the study of various problems in physics. Most of these studies are focused on interpreting the data generated by conventional numerical methods or the data on an existing experimental database. An interesting question is whether it is possible to use a machine learning approach, in particular a neural network, for solving the many-body problem. In this paper, we present a neural network solver for the single impurity Anderson model, the paradigm of an interacting quantum problem in small clusters. We demonstrate that the neural-network-based solver provides quantitative accurate results for the spectral function as compared to the exact diagonalization method. This opens the possibility of utilizing the neural network approach as an impurity solver for other many-body numerical approaches, such as the dynamical mean field theory.
Abstract This work develops a novel ice detection framework specifically suitable for rotorcraft using computational aeroacoustics and Bayesian neural networks. In an offline phase of the work, the acoustic signature of glaze and rime ice shapes on an oscillating wing are computed. In addition, the aerodynamic performance indicators corresponding to the ice shapes are also monitored. These performance indicators include the lift, drag, and moment coefficients. A Bayesian neural network is subsequently trained using projected Stein variational gradient descent to create a mapping from the acoustic signature generated by the iced wings to predict their performance indicators along with quantified uncertainty that is highly important for time- and safety-critical decision-making scenarios. While the training is carried out fully offline, usage of the Bayesian neural network to make predictions can be conducted rapidly online allowing for an ice detection system that can be used in real time and in-flight.
Automated schemes are needed to classify multispectral remotely sensed data. Human intelligence is often required to correctly interpret images from satellites and aircraft. Humans suceed because they use various types of cues about a scene to accurately define the contents of the image. Consequently, it follows that computer techniques that integrate and use different types of information would perform better than single source approaches. This research illustrated that multispectral signatures and topographical information could be used in concert. Significantly, this dual source tactic classified a remotely sensed image better than the multispectral classification alone. These classifications were accomplished by fusing spectral signatures with topographical information using neural network technology. A neural network was trained to classify Landsat mulitspectral signatures. A file of georeferenced ground truth classifications were used as the training criterion. The network was trained to classify urban, agriculture, range, and forest with an accuracy of 65.7 percent. Another neural network was programmed and trained to fuse these multispectral signature results with a file of georeferenced altitude data. This topological file contained 10 levels of elevations. When this nonspectral elevation information was fused with the spectral signatures, the classifications were improved to 73.7 and 75.7 percent.
A convolutional neural network is applied to lidar scan images from three experimental campaigns to identify and characterize wind turbine wakes. Initially developed as a proof-of-concept model and applied to a single data set in complex terrain, the model is now improved and generalized and applied to two other unique lidar data sets, one located near an escarpment and one located offshore. The model, initially developed using lidar scans collected in predominantly westerly flow, exhibits sensitivity to wind flow direction. The model is thus successfully generalized through implementing a standard rotation process to scan images before input into the convolutional neural network to ensure the flow is westerly. The sample size of lidar scans used to train the model is increased, and along with the generalization process, these changes to the model are shown to enhance accuracy and robustness when characterizing dissipating and asymmetric wakes. Applied to the offshore data set in which nearly 20 wind turbine wakes are included per scan, the improved model exhibits a 95% success rate in characterizing wakes and a 74% success rate in characterizing dissipating wake fragments. The improved model is shown to generalize well to the two new data sets, although an increase in wake characterization accuracy is offset by an increase in model sensitivity and false positive wake identifications.
Concept for design of electronic neural network calls for assembly of very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits of few standard types. Each VLSI chip, which contains both analog and digital circuitry, used in modular or "building-block" fashion by interconnecting it in any of variety of ways with other chips. Feedforward neural network in typical situation operates under control of host computer and receives inputs from, and sends outputs to, other equipment.
We present the first application of deep learning forecasting for binary neutron stars, neutron star–black hole systems, and binary black hole mergers that span an eccentricity range e ≤ 0.9. In this work, we train neural networks that describe these astrophysical populations, and then test their performance by injecting simulated eccentric signals in advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) noise available at the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center to (1) quantify how fast neural networks identify these signals before the binary components merge; (2) quantify how accurately neural networks estimate the time to merger once gravitational waves are identified; and (3) estimate the time-dependent sky localization of these events from early detection to merger. Our findings show that deep learning can identify eccentric signals from a few seconds (for binary black holes) up to tens of seconds (for binary neutron stars) prior to merger. A quantized version of our neural networks achieves 4× reduction in model size, and up to 2.5× inference speedup. These novel algorithms may be used to facilitate time-sensitive multimessenger astrophysics observations of compact binaries in dense stellar environments.
This paper presents a discussion of the applicability of neural networks in the identification and control of dynamic systems. Emphasis is placed on the understanding of how the neural networks handle linear systems and how the new approach is related to conventional system identification and control methods. Extensions of the approach to nonlinear systems are then made. The paper explains the fundamental concepts of neural networks in their simplest terms. Among the topics discussed are feed forward and recurrent networks in relation to the standard state-space and observer models, linear and nonlinear auto-regressive models, linear, predictors, one-step ahead control, and model reference adaptive control for linear and nonlinear systems. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the application of these important concepts.
An encoder–decoder neural network has been used to examine the possibility for acceleration of a partial integro-differential equation, the Fokker–Planck–Landau collision operator. This is part of the governing equation in the massively parallel particle-in-cell code XGC, which is used to study turbulence in fusion energy devices. The neural network emphasizes physics-inspired learning, where it is taught to respect physical conservation constraints of the collision operator by including them in the training loss, along with the ℓ 2 loss. In particular, network architectures used for the computer vision task of semantic segmentation have been used for training. A penalization method is used to enforce the ‘soft’ constraints of the system and integrate error in the conservation properties into the loss function. During training, quantities representing the particle density, momentum and energy for all species of the system are calculated at each configuration vertex, mirroring the procedure in XGC. This simple training has produced a median relative loss, across configuration space, of the order of 10 –4 , which is low enough if the error is of random nature, but not if it is of drift nature in time steps. The run time for the current Picard iterative solver of the operator is O(n 2 ), where n is the number of plasma species. As the XGC1 code begins to attack problems including a larger number of species, the collision operator will become expensive computationally, making the neural network solver even more important, especially since its training only scales as O(n). Here, a wide enough range of collisionality has been considered in the training data to ensure the full domain of collision physics is captured. An advanced technique to decrease the losses further will be subject of a subsequent report. Eventual work will include expansion of the network to include multiple plasma species.
An optical neural network based on the neocognitron paradigm is introduced. A novel aspect of the architecture design is shift-invariant multichannel Fourier optical correlation within each processing layer. Multilayer processing is achieved by feeding back the ouput of the feature correlator interatively to the input spatial light modulator and by updating the Fourier filters. By training the neural net with characteristic features extracted from the target images, successful pattern recognition with intraclass fault tolerance and interclass discrimination is achieved. A detailed system description is provided. Experimental demonstrations of a two-layer neural network for space-object discrimination is also presented.